Separable button



March 6, 1956 III-ll F. E. GRANNEN ,SEPARABLE BUTTON Filed April 9, 1949 I'QJE.

INVENTOR. FRANCIS GRAN/VEN Attorpg SEPARABLE BUTTON Francis E. Grannen, Cincinnati, Ohio Application April 9 1949, Serial No. 86,429

7 Claims. (Cl. 24107) This invention relates to improvements in buttons and particularly to improvements in so called two part buttons, that is, buttons in which the button proper is removable from a garment or the like prior to cleaning, laundering, pressing or ironing of said garment.

This invention relates to improvements and modifications in the two part buttons forming the subject matter of pending application, Serial No. 80,715, filed March 10, 1949, now Patent No. 2,683,909 issued July 20, 1954.

As stated in said application, in the past, removable buttons have been employed in which use was generally made of a pair of parts each removable from the garment resulting in, frequently, displacement of the parts since one of them was primarily a small wire or pin that could easily be misplaced and at the same time very clumsy to use when applying the button to the garment. Furthermore with this style of removable button it was necessary to supply the garment with an aperture or hole through which a part of the button projected and which hole was subjected. to considerable wear and tear in the normal use of the button and at the same time allowed considerable free play between the parts and the garment resulting in further wear and tear on the garment andparticularly around the aforementioned aperture or hole. At tempts have alsobeen made to provide removable buttons that included two or more parts with one of the parts permanently attached to the garment and with which permanently attached part the button was interlocked when in its operative position. With this style of button, as heretofore known, the structures were quite complicated and expensive to produce and at the same time were such as to cause friction and wear and tear on' the garment fabric around the said permanentlyattached part-thereby causing tears and other damage to the garment fabric resulting in a structure whose use was undesirable.

It is with the latter type of removable button that this invention overcomes the heretofore objections thereto.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a two part button in which each part is reduced to its simplest form whereby the said parts can be economically produced for thereby increasing theirsale and use. I

Another object of this invention is the provision of a two part button wherein use is made of a permanently attached part, plate or carrier, and a separable button part having attaching means interengageable with the fixed part and which attaching means are readily'adj ust able to compensate for slight variations in the manufacture of said permanently attached part; said object being readily accomplished by forming said button attachingmeans from spring wire.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a two part button having separable interengaging means wherein the parts, when assembled are interlocked in such a manner as to require considerable etfortto separate.

same, yet, said parts can be readily separated when properly manipulated.

United States Patent application is concerned and which button of the present Other objects and advantages of the present invention should be readily apparent by reference to the following specification considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and it is to be understood that any modifications may be made in the exact structural details there shown and described, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from or exceeding the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of one form of an assembled two part button embodying the principles of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the button of Fig. l as seen from line 22 on said Fig. l, the fabric of Fig. 1 being eliminated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the permanently attached part or carrier as seen from line 3-3 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the plate of Fig. 3 as seen from line 44 on said Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the attaching portion of the button; per se, prior to having the visible portion of the button secured thereto.

Fig. 6 is an clevational view of the attaching part of the button as seen from the left-hand side of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a plan view' of a carrier or plate showing modifications therein.

Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view through the plate of Fig. 7 as seen from line 8--8 on said Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a carrier or plate showing a further modification in the construction thereof.

Fig. 10. is a transverse sectional View through the plate of Fig. 9 as seen from line 10-10 on said Fig. 9.

e Fig. 11 is'a top plan view of a button attaching part showing modification therein over the disclosure in Fig. 5.

Fig. 12 is an elevational view of the button-carrying part of Fig. 11.

Throughout the several'views of the drawings similar reference characters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

The removable button of the present invention will find its usefulness in connection with dresses, coats, uniforms, aprons and the like, which are subject to frequent cleaning, laundering, pressing and ironing, and in which the buttons are subject to damage, particularly when such buttons are of the fragile molded type as are quite common in use atthe present time. These buttons are quite expensive and'are generally supplied in sets which if one becomes damaged generally requires'the discarding of the 'remainingbuttons of the set and the purchase of an entirely different set in order to have the proper number of buttons of; the same form and configuration-for the garment on which they are used.

Various forms of the invention are illustrated in the drawings with each form embodying the underlying principles and essential elements of the construction, and the several forms will be described with reference to the modification of the several forms as distinguished from that illustrated in Figs.'l to 6, inclusive.

Asshown in said'Figs. 1 to 6,'inclusive, use is made of a carrier, plate or holding member 15 secured in any suitable or desirable manner; to a fabric or the like 16 which,- as noted above, may be a wearable garment that is subject to cleaning, laundering, pressing or ironing.

' take 'theform of a disc 19 having its perimeter upset to form a. reinforcing-flange 20. Near the flange 20 and; equally .spaced around the disc 19 there are provided apertures 21 through which stitching or the like 22 may pass in securing the carrier to the fabric 16, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3.

The disc 19 centrally thereof is outwardly bent or pressed to provide an inverted dish-like' projection comprising upwardly and outwardly inclined wall 23 terminating in a base 24 for the dish with an areaway 24' beneath the projection base 24. The said base 24 is provided substantially centrally thereof with an aperture 25 from opposite diametrical points of which project slots 26 and 27 each of which terminates short of the inclined wall 23.

As noted above the button 17, through its attaching member 18, is removably connected with the disc 19. As illustrated in Figs. 2, and 6, the connecting member 18 is formed of a single piece of wire including spring arms 28 and 29 each of which has at its free end an enlargement illustrated in the drawings as ball shaped and respectively indicated by the numerals 30 and 31. It will be understood that the enlarged ends 30 and 31 may be formed by merely upsetting the ends of the spring arms 28 and 29. The other ends of the arms 28 and 29 are connected through a continuous section that takes a tortuous path to form a head 32 at said outer ends of the arms 28 and 29. As illustrated in Fig. 5 the head 32 has portions of its wire substantially bent on itself with spaces such as 33 and 34 between the bends or bend legs 35 and 36. These spaces permit the material, of which the visible part of the button 17 is formed, to pass through for enveloping the legs 35 and 36 in etfecting a permanent attachment of the said button 17 and connecting member 18 to one another.

The attachment or connection of the button 17 with the carrier or plate is believed obvious from Figs. 1 and 2 and briefly is as follows:

One of the spring arm enlargements, 30 for example, is first inserted through the aperture into the areaway 24' and the spring arm 28 actuated to the outer end of the passage or slot 26 whereupon the arm 29 is manually sprung toward the arm 28 until its enlargement or ball 31 is aligned with the aperture 25 whereupon the said enlargement or ball 31 is inserted through the aperture 25 into the said areaway 24 and the spring arm 29 released for springing to the outer end of its passage or slot 27. The parts are now in the position illustrated in Figs. 1 and .3 and are yieldingly retained in this position because of the outward springing of the arms 28 and 29 and the button is prevented from disassociation with its carrier due to the fact that the said enlargements and 31 cannot be pulled outward through the slots or passageways 26 and 27.

When it is desired to remove the button from the carrier one of the spring arms 28 or 29 is actuated toward the other until its enlargement or ball 30 or 31 is in alignment with the aperture 25 whereupon it is withdrawn through said aperture and then the remaining spring arm moved to align its enlargement with the aperture for completely separating the parts.

In the modified carrier or plate in Figs. 7 and 8 the spring arms are tensioned by merely twisting the button instead of exerting force, manually, on said arms. In order to accomplish this the plate dish or boss base 24 is provided with a pair of apertures 37 and 38 each of a diameter to receive one of the enlargements or balls 30 and 31, the ball 30, for example, being received in the aperture 37 while the ball 31 would pass through the aperture 38. The apertures 37 and 38 each have extending from it an arcuate slot 39 and 40 which is generated about an axis oifset from the center of the carrier and from which center the apertures 37 and 38 are substan tially equally spaced. The said arcuate, in fact, eccentric, slots 39 and 40 each terminate in an outwardly or radially extending slot 41 and 42 which have their outer terminus near the inclined wall 23 of the projection. In practice the apertures 37 and 38 are spaced a distance substantially equal to the free position of the spring arm enlargements or balls 30 and 31 so that they can be readily, simultaneously inserted through their apertures, it being understood that should a discrepancy be present the said enlargements through their respective springs arms 28 and 29 can be readily slightly spaced or contracted to be aligned with said apertures for insertion thereinto.

The operation of this construction is believed obvious, but briefly is as follows:

Upon the insertion of the spring arms enlargements or balls 30 and 31 through the apertures 37 and 38 into the boss areaway 24' a twist or rotation of the button 17 in a clockwise direction will cause the spring arms 28 and 29 to travel into and through the slots 39 and 40. The slots 39 and 40 being generated or paths which gradually diminish the normal or free space between said spring arms thereby inwardly spring the said spring arms 28 and 29 until the outwardly projecting, or radial slots, 41 and 42 are reached, whereupon the said arms 28 and 29 will spring into said slots to the outermost limits thereof and thereby lock the parts in their assembled positions. The parts are retained in their assembled positions through the tension in the arms 28 and 29 and due to the fact that the enlargements 30 and 31 of said arms underlie the disc material on each side of the slots 41 and 42.

When desired to remove the button or separate the parts the spring arms 28 and 29 are manually actuated toward one another to the inner limits of the radial slots 41 and 42 whereupon the button 17 is twisted or actuated in a counterclockwise direction to again align the spring arm enlargements 30 and 31 with their respective apertures 37 and 38 to permit a Withdrawal of said enlargements outwardly through said apertures.

In Figs. 9 and 10 a further modification of the carrier or plate is illustrated in which the arms 23 and 29 are yieldably tensioned by the action of the plate itself and can be released without manually engaging the arms to effect their springing. In this modification the carrier of disc 19 instead of being provided with a substantially circular boss is, instead, provided with a pair of diverging elongated ridges 43 and 44. The upper ends of the ridges 43 and 44 are, respectively, outwardly bent or disposed as at 45 and 46, illustrated in Fig. 10. By this construction a pair of diverging track Ways 47 and 48 are provided with the track way 47 being formed between the projection 45 of the ridge 43 and the body portion of the disc 19 and with the track way 48 being correspondingly formed between the projection 46 of the ridge 44 and they are provided at diametrically opposite points, preferably, substantially at their mid-point, with depressions or apertures 49 and 50 in which the enlarged ends or balls 30 and 31 of the spring arms 28 and 29 engage in releasably securing the parts to one another.

The operation of the carrier or plate of Figs. 9 and 10 is as follows:

The closer ends of the ridges 43 and 44 form the entrance to the track ways 47 and 48 and are of a width substantially no greater than the distance between the bot tom attaching enlargements or balls 30 and 31 so that said balls may be readily positioned in said entrance to the track ways. The button is then actuated vertically of the plate, as illustrated in Fig. 9, or toward the greater spaced ends of the ridges 43 and 44. The said button is moved in this direction until the enlargements or balls 30 and 31 align with the apertures 49 and 50 whereupon the said balls snap thereinto for thereby yieldingly looking the parts to one another. When desired to remove the button from the carrier or plate a sharp jerk on the button toward the entrance, or narrower ends, of the track way disengages the enlargements or balls 30 and 31 from the depressions or apertures 49 and 50 thereby permitting ready removal of the button from the carrier.

It will be noted from Fig. 9 that the carrier plate attaching apertures 21 are grouped about the center of the disc 19, in much the same fashion as the well known button is formed, to receive stitching or the like for attaching same to the garment.. This modification in the disc enables the sides thereof to be Employed for the track way ridges 43 and 44 which may be interfered with if the said attaching apertures were located as illustrated in the modifications in Figs. 3 and 7.

- In Figs. 11 and 12 there is illustrated a slight modification in the construction of the attaching member 18 in that its head 51, while formed of a continuous length of wire, is made in the general contour of a circular disc instead of as a rectangle as described above and illustrated in Fig. 5. In other words the wire is caused to follow a tortuous path to provide spaces 52 between the wire bends for the same reason as the spaces 33 and 34 were provided above.

In the modification in Figs. 11 and 12 the spring arms 53 and 54 are located substantially adjacent one another instead of at the outer sides of the head. By this construction the said arms 53 and 54 may be readily twisted on one another as at 55 with the free ends of the arms outwardly bent as at 56 and 57 to obtain the desired spacing of their enlarged or balled ends 58 and 59.

By this construction a stiffer spring arm results which in connection with certain forms of carrier or disc, for example that shown in Figs. 9 and 10, a considerably tighter spring action is obtained for thereby obtaining a greater gripping of the parts between the enlarged ends of the arms and the carrier. It should be noted however that the modification in Figs. 11 and 12 can be used with equal facility with the modified carriers or discs of Figs. 3 and 7.

From the foregoing, it is believed now evident that there has been provided a two part button which accomplishes the objects initially set forth.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the class described for buttoning a first portion of material to another portion of material only one of which portions has a button hole, a carrier member having a flat rear face adapted to be disposed against said material portion devoid of the buttonhole and a forward face outwardly projecting from said rear face, a detachable button comprising a button body portion and a shank including a pair of spring arms of considerable length projecting from the body portion with their ends free, said spring arms having a normal yieldable spacing of their free ends from one another, an elongated aperture for each spring arm in said carrier member forward face receiving the spring arms free ends and spacing same a distance other than their normal yieldable spacing and placing said spring arms under tension and with the button body portion positioned from the carrier member and the spring arms shank exposed and adapted to be received in the material button hole, and an enlargement on each of said spring arms disposed below the forward face of said carrier member receiving and tensioning apertures to prevent displacement of the button and carrier member.

2. In a device of the class described for buttoning a first portion of material to another portion of material only one of which portions has a button hole, a carrier member having a flat rear face adapted to be disposed against said material portion devoid of the button hole and a forward face outwardly projecting from said rear face, a detachable button comprising a button body portion and a shank including a pair of spring arms of considerable length projecting from the body portion with their ends free, said spring arms having a normal yieldable spacing of their free ends from one another, a camshaped aperture for each spring arm in said carrier member forward face receiving the spring arms free ends and spacing same a distance other than their normal yieldable spacing and placing said spring arms under tension and with the button body portion positioned from the carrier member and the spring arms shank exposed and adapted to be received in the material button hole, and an enlargement on each of said spring arms disposed before the forward face of said carrier member receiving and tensioning cam-shaped apertures to prevent displacement of the button and carrier member.

3. In a device of the class described for buttoning a first portion of material to another portion of material only one of which portions has a button hole, a carrier member having a flat rear face adapted to be disposed against said material portion devoid of the button hole and a forward face outwardly projecting from said rear face, a detachable button comprising a button body portion and a shank including a pair of spring arms of considerable length projecting from the body portion with their ends free, said spring arms having a normal yieldable spacing of their free ends from one another, an enlargement on the free end of each spring arm, said carrier member forward face having an enlarged aperture substantially centrally thereof through which the spring arms enlargements are inserted to be below the carrier member forward face, a radial slot from diametrical points on said central aperture having their outer ends spaced a distance less than the normal yieldable spacing of the spring arms free ends, each slot receiving a spring arm and of less width than the spring arms enlargements so that said spring arms are placed under ten sion by the ends of the slots and disassociation of the button and carrier member prevented by the enlargements and with said button body portion spaced from the carrier member and the spring arms shank exposed.

4. As an article of manufacture a separable button for buttoning one portion of material to another portion of material only one of which portions has a button hole, comprising a carrier member having a relatively flat rear surface and a projecting inverted dish-like portion to provide a forward face with an areaway therebeneath, and a detachable button comprising a button body portion and a shank including a pair of spring arms of considerable length projecting from the body portion and the spring arms having their ends free and normally, yieldably spaced from one another, said carrier member forward face having a slot therethrough through which the button shank spring arms project with their free ends in the areaway, said slot having the ends thereof spaced from one another a distance less than the yieldable normal spacing of said spring arms for placing said spring arms under tension, and means on the free ends of said spring arms within the areaway for preventing disassociation of said button shank and carrier member while said spring arms are under tension and with the button body portion spaced from the carrier and the spring arms shank exposed.

5. As an article of manufacture a separable button for buttoning one portion of material to another portion of material only one of which portions has a button hole, comprising a carrier member having a relatively fiat rear surface and a projecting inverted dish-like portion to provide a forward face with an, areaway therebeneath, and a detachable button comprising a button body portion and a shank including a pair of spring arms of considerable length projecting from the body portion and the spring arms having their ends free and normally, yieldably spaced from one another, said carrier member forward face having a slot therethrough through which the button shank spring arms project with their free ends in the areaway, said slot having the ends thereof spaced from one another a distance less than the yieldable normal spacing of said spring arms for placing said spring arms under tension, enlargements on the free ends of said spring arms within the areaways for preventing disassociation of said button shank and carrier while said spring arms are under tension and with the button body portion spaced from the carrier and the spring arms shank exposed, said slot having formed intermediate its ends an aperture through which the spring arms enlargements are projected in connecting and disconnecting the button and carrier member.

6. As an article of manufacture a separable button for buttoning one portion of material to another portion of material only one of which portions has a button hole, comprising a carrier member having a relatively flat rear surface and a projecting inverteddish-like portion to pro vide a forward face with an areaway therebeneath, and a detachable button comprising a button body portion and a shank including a pair of spring arms of considerable length projecting from the body portion and the spring arms having their ends free and normally, yieldably spaced from one another, said carrier member forward face having formed therethrough a pair of apertures affording communication to the areaway, an eccentric slot in the carrier member forward face extending from each aperture, each aperture and slot respectively receiving a spring arm for spacing said spring arms a distance from one another other than their normal spacing and thereby placing said spring arms under tension, and enlargements at the free ends of said arms of less width than the width of the slots an projectable through the apertures in the carrier member forward face into the areaway and movable beneath the slots to prevent withdrawal of said spring arms from the slots and with the button body portion spaced from the carrier member and the spring arms shank between the button body portion and carrier member exposed.

7. As an article of manufacture a separable button for buttoning one portion of material to another portion of material only one of which portions has a button hole,

comprising a carrier member having a relatively flat rear aperture, each aperture and slot respectively receiving a spring arm for spacing said spring arms a distance from one another other than their normal spacing and thereby placing said spring arms under tension, enlargements at the free ends of said arms of less width than the width of the slots and projectable through the apertures in the carrier member forward face into the areaway and movable beneath the slots to prevent withdrawal of said spring arms from the slots and with the button body portion spaced from the carrier member and the spring arms shank between the button body portion and carrier member exposed, and a radial slot from each eccentric slot receiving said spring arms and maintaining same under tension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 58,332 Browne Sept. 25, 1866 257,698 Hawley May 9, 1882 303,047 Radcliffe Aug. 5, 1884 384,273 Anderson et a1. June 12, 1888 417,191 Kershaw Dec. 10, 1889 508,498 Beaumont Nov. 14, 1893 611,881 Wirth Oct. 4, 1898 679,793 Stutson Aug. 6, 1901 801,974 Dulac et al Oct. 17, 1905 829,837 Brisacher Aug. 28, 1906 1,050,380 Nilsson Jan. 14, 1913 1,248,723 Roth Dec. 4, 1917 1,297,890 Monroe Mar. 18, 1919 1,477,597 Schneider Dec. 18, 1923 2,023,457 White Dec. 10, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS 10,900 Great Britain of 1903 15,235 Great Britain of 1906 475,556 Great Britain Nov. 19, 1937 130,772 Germany May 15, 1902 

